The present invention relates to a light fixture and more particularly to a light fixture which includes a printed circuit board and which has a structure allowing for light fixtures to be electrically connected and combined to form any size or configuration light fixture desired.
Light fixtures and in particular, under-cabinet light fixtures have been available and used for many years. Such light fixtures are manufactured to have a fixed size and configuration including a fixed number of lamps or bulbs. The conventional light fixtures, such as those used in applications such as under cabinets, under shelves, and display cases and used in exposed applications to illuminate artwork or podiums, contain lamps that are powered by either low voltage or line voltage current. Such light fixtures provide space advantages because of their small size and have a simple construction allowing for easy installation and maintenance. However, these conventional light fixtures are not arranged or adapted to allow for easy modular interconnection of multiple light fixtures to provide any size, configuration or number of light fixtures for any type of application.
The conventional light fixtures, including low voltage under-cabinet lighting fixture systems, have central conductors functioning as an electrical conduit and can have a construction of either detachable heads that contain sockets or fixed lamp sockets attached directly to the conduit. In these cases and in other variations, such as, low voltage system, a miniature high output, low voltage lamp is used. These lamps and their related systems typically allow the fixture to be small in size and easy to mount. However, by their nature, low voltage systems require the use of transformers for their electrical functioning. As a result, the number of lamps and the size and configurations of the light fixtures that can be feasibly installed is limited by size and placement of these transformers.
In addition, the required transformers increase the cost and difficulty of manufacturing the light fixtures. Also, if the transformers are not installed in the light fixture properly, malfunctioning such as dimming of the lamps or overloading of the fixture will occur.
The present invention overcomes the problems of using transformers in light fixtures of the prior art by using individual printed circuit boards in each module. Each PC board can be arranged so that low voltage lamps of proper electrical value are in a particular series configuration such that the voltage of a standard line voltage current would be sufficient to power the series of lamps without the need of an electronic transformer. The printed circuit boards in the light fixtures serve as the distribution wire ways that also provide the electrical power to the connectors between modules. The PC board allows the fixture to be compact in size and also provides for easy manufacturing and mounting into the housing.
The present invention overcomes the problems described above by providing a light fixture which does not require transformers and is adapted to be modularly connected to other similar light fixtures to allow for any configuration of a light fixture to be provided.
The present invention overcomes the problems of using transformers in light fixtures of the prior art by using individual printed circuit boards in each module of the light fixture and also provides for easy manufacturing and mounting into the housing.
The present invention provides a light fixture including a plurality of printed circuit boards which are removably provided in the light fixture and which substantially reduce the cost and size of the lighting system.
In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, a light fixture includes a housing having first and second ends, electrical endcaps located at the first and second ends of the housing and at least one printed circuit board disposed inside of the housing and electrically connected to at least one of the electrical endcaps, the printed circuit board including a socket containing a lamp contained therein.
The printed circuit board fits securely into the housing, preferably via a receiving or grooved channel however, a snap fit configuration or other means may also be used. The printed circuit board preferably extends along a length of the housing. The electrical endcaps are preferably attached to the housing so as to hold the printed circuit board in place. The above-described construction is arranged to define a modular fixture unit that can be used as a single unit or connected to any number of the same modular type units to define any size, shape, configuration light fixture having any number of sockets or lamps.
More specifically, the light fixture according to the preferred embodiments of the present invention has a construction which allows the light fixture to be electrically connected to multiple similar light fixture units to form a desired length, to avoid the disadvantages of the conventional single piece unit having an unchangeable size and configuration. In the present invention, the user can change the size of the light fixture by adding or subtracting modules. The use of the printed circuit board allows an electrified socket to be attached, but also allows for easy electrical distribution between other light fixture modules.
Preferably the lamp and printed circuit board construction is rotatable and movable to any desired position by being rotatable relative to the mounting surface. The fixture according to the preferred embodiments of the present invention is very versatile in that the printed circuit boards can be easily replaced by the manufacturer to change the socket layout and to provide a desired electrical circuitry for a particular application. In addition, the socket arrangement on the PC board can be connected in series or in parallel, and allows the use of a low voltage or line voltage circuit to the sockets. Further the socket arrangement allows the manufacturer the option to power the light fixture with a transformer if desired.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a light fixture system of unique components that can allow a variety of fixture size options and mounting possibilities. The light fixture system can be mounted as a single unit or can be mounted with a series of light fixture units in multiple runs. Because of the use of printed circuit boards, any number of light fixture modules can be easily and quickly connected by the user to each other and mounted to form a light fixture system.
It is preferable that one or more of the light fixture modules are rotatable relative to their respective mounting surface so as to be able to direct light in any desired direction.
It is also preferred that the light fixture modules include a high temperature protective lens designed to evenly diffuse the outputted light and to allow for easy lamp replacement upon removal of the lens. The protective lens also prevents the consumer from accidentally coming into contact with the heated lamps when the light fixture unit is in operation.
These and other advantages, features and elements of the preferred embodiments of the present invention will become more apparent from the drawings and description appended hereto.